when you look at me do you see someone
that was a chairman of a board of a
non-profit do you see somebody that was
a transit board member
do you see an educator do you see a
college graduate these are just some of
the successes I have had in spite of
being one of 150 people in the entire
world with my disability pseudo
thalidomide syndrome it has been
reclassified as Roberts syndrome and
then at folk Emelia the version I have
the form I have is folk Amelia they’re
about half the people with this
disability have severe mental cognitive
issues the other half there’s a various
breakdown of the categories that they
break into for example there are only
between five and twenty nine percent of
people with this disability that don’t
have kneecaps like me and have a blood
condition called thrombocytopenia as a
kid if you ride your bike you skinned
your knee your mom puts a bandaid on it
you’re fine someone like myself that
would be major medical procedures
throughout life my mom has always been
my big champion my biggest fighter but
moms can’t always teach us everything I
had to learn a lot of things on my own
how to feed myself how to dress myself
how to bathe myself and as we grow up we
have peers they have certain film loop
certain situations in their life and you
find someone that’s similar to you to
share your experiences now imagine
growing up throughout life you have
nobody to share those experiences with
what is it like to go to the grocery
store and you say excuse me would you
please hand me that item on the shelf
someone walks past you and says no thank
you
or you’re waiting on a bus and the bus
pulls up and you’re not wearing any
socks and they say I’m sorry we’re not
gonna provide a ride for you
these are just some of the
discriminations I have saige growing up
as as adolescence that’s where we grow
our bonds where we develop our
friendships during primary school it was
phenomenal time you know your 7 8 10
years old heaven time of your life I
grew up at a time for the Americans with
Disabilities Act
so I did not have an opportunity to go
to my neighborhood schools they had to
send me to a school for someone like him
again 150 people in the entire world
like me I don’t think they’re gonna find
a school for somebody like me but
despite that you know I grew up with my
peers through primary schools it was a
time of my life but as I progressed went
into middle and high school it was just
for lack of a better word hell people
who are supposed to be your friends
people who are supposed to be yours
spitting on you locking you in a locker
pushing you downstairs putting tags on
your wheelchair how many of us would
give up in any of those cases you know
but my mom my strength my rock she
taught me how to overcome how to ignore
those negativities and again as parents
you can’t teach us everything you just
give us the best tools that you feel
that you believe you can instill in us
and hope that we do the very best with
what you guys do for us after graduating
high school I went on to college and I
was unsuccessful in my first run of
college the same kind of people I was
going to high school with we’re the same
time for people I’m paying to get an
education and still getting made fun of
why should i at 20 years old 21 years
old get big fun of by someone that’s
supposed to be my peer somebody that’s
supposed to be my classmate you know
after after all that in life we go
through struggles and and I certainly
and without you know not without mine
and I I lost perspective I lost what my
mission should have been and I stumbled
I sell but I got back up and I returned
college and for the first time in my
academic career I made the Dean’s List I
was the first disabled student
government president in 177 years of my
university history
I served thank you I served as the
founding member of our political science
Honor Society I was the first person
that brought together the Latino
organization and the Black Student Union
and all the student unions because in
life Society puts these labels on us our
parents don’t say label us you know I’m
a mixed-race background so I don’t
consider myself a black man a white man
or a disabled man I consider myself a
man because why should we look at
somebody for the challenges or
differences that they have even though
with my education my experience and the
efforts I try to make you know the
resume I gave you that sounds awesome
you read that on paper that’s amazing
but then you roll up into the office for
the job oh I’m sorry
depositions full we don’t have that
opportunity anymore
oh the the application period close
these are just some of the
discriminations people with disabilities
face and that’s what turned me into an
advocate for people with disabilities it
started for me at age 16 I went to go
apply for at the local men’s clothing
store they said I couldn’t have the job
because I couldn’t climb the ladder like
that’s the only part of a job that that
you do what am i climbing ladders all
day
you know what is nobody coming in and
buying any clothes it’s ridiculous so I
took that experience and the way it made
me feel and I saw other people who
challenges may not have been as great
but we’re facing some of these same
discriminations
and it’s like what can we do how can we
help our friends and our neighbors my
friends and I use the term weird often
but my friends think I’m weird because
I’m most happiest when my friends and
neighbors are happiest because that’s
the way I was raised you know why should
someone have a brand-new job a brand-new
car and everything
why mr. Jones next door is struggling
why Miss Smith across the street can’t
even put food on her table you know we
lost a sense of community sometimes
between 92,000 and 2010 you know we need
to go back to helping each other as
independent as I am I’ve been a dad kids
I continue to say and I’ve got the
opportunity to go to Washington DC and
it was extremely humbling to travel the
same routes as Martin Luther King as
Abraham Lincoln and as my personal hero
John F Kennedy to travel with a thousand
people in wheelchairs and are having
other disabilities shutting down streets
going into the Housing Authority and
saying where’s our opportunity if you
think about it look at the houses in
your neighborhood you see there’s always
a stair to get in there’s always some
kind of step there’s always some kind of
barrier and that’s what I’ve been
fighting my entire life it’s like I’m a
mixed-race dude I don’t have arms you
know
I roll around real fast in a wheelchair
they think I’m gonna run everybody over
you know these are just challenges and
you got to take each and every moment
and figure out how are you going to
overcome that how are you going to knock
down that barrier so having rolled the
streets of Washington DC I’m also
blessed to say I’ve been handcuffed to
the fence of the White House and the
name of civil rights it was it was
February it was cold we were all wrapped
up in our blankets but again we have a
civil piece of civil rights legislation
can you believe that they had to pass a
piece of law so I could have same
opportunities you
what does why why am i different why
should we have that in the United States
of America
so after rolling down the streets of DC
and being handcuffed to the fence the
White House oh I also got thrown out of
my wheelchair by the DC police we had a
meeting with then speaker Pelosi who
decided that she was overwhelmed by a
thousand people with disabilities so her
and her Caravan took off I went to go
block it with my wheelchair and well the
police said move and I said you’re an
elected representative you represent the
people you’re supposed to hear our voice
apparently they didn’t like that so I
went up and I went down but I’m proud of
that I’m proud of that because that
brought attention to the needs of what
people want
the only thing disabilities want the
only thing that we want is a very same
opportunity as in each and every one of
you presently I’m a trainer I’m a
consultant I trained the bus drivers
here in Las Vegas and they always ask me
questions about belligerent PWDs people
with disabilities and I said I’m kicking
about the bus I did not spend 25 years
advocating for the same rights and
privileges as each one of you to not
face the same consequences and that’s
the problem today everybody wants to get
what they can get but they don’t want to
face with their repercussions what
they’ve earned
closing up here I went I went home last
month saw my mom after five years of
being away from home surprised her from
other day I told her her gift got sent
to my house I ended up showing up on her
porch so I was back at home and having
work so doggone hard myself and George
Janek were the only two obviously
disabled people in our community and we
worked we worked and we worked and the
system worked so hard against us that I
had to leave I had to move out of my
community because we lost our busses I
would ride my wheelchair two or three
miles in the rain and the snow because
it’s my responsibility as a man provide
for myself right click I don’t receive a
single penny in government assistance
whatsoever
I earn everything I have but but my
friend my friend nor Township Trustee
Franklin shared a story of having seen
me run for office and he talked about at
the mayor’s disability Commission and he
said I saw Raymond get out of his
wheelchair and climb up the stairs climb
up the stairs what are your barriers in
life what’s going to keep you from
overcoming them how are you going to
overcome those odds thank you ladies and gentlemen
that was a chairman of a board of a
non-profit do you see somebody that was
a transit board member
do you see an educator do you see a
college graduate these are just some of
the successes I have had in spite of
being one of 150 people in the entire
world with my disability pseudo
thalidomide syndrome it has been
reclassified as Roberts syndrome and
then at folk Emelia the version I have
the form I have is folk Amelia they’re
about half the people with this
disability have severe mental cognitive
issues the other half there’s a various
breakdown of the categories that they
break into for example there are only
between five and twenty nine percent of
people with this disability that don’t
have kneecaps like me and have a blood
condition called thrombocytopenia as a
kid if you ride your bike you skinned
your knee your mom puts a bandaid on it
you’re fine someone like myself that
would be major medical procedures
throughout life my mom has always been
my big champion my biggest fighter but
moms can’t always teach us everything I
had to learn a lot of things on my own
how to feed myself how to dress myself
how to bathe myself and as we grow up we
have peers they have certain film loop
certain situations in their life and you
find someone that’s similar to you to
share your experiences now imagine
growing up throughout life you have
nobody to share those experiences with
what is it like to go to the grocery
store and you say excuse me would you
please hand me that item on the shelf
someone walks past you and says no thank
you
or you’re waiting on a bus and the bus
pulls up and you’re not wearing any
socks and they say I’m sorry we’re not
gonna provide a ride for you
these are just some of the
discriminations I have saige growing up
as as adolescence that’s where we grow
our bonds where we develop our
friendships during primary school it was
phenomenal time you know your 7 8 10
years old heaven time of your life I
grew up at a time for the Americans with
Disabilities Act
so I did not have an opportunity to go
to my neighborhood schools they had to
send me to a school for someone like him
again 150 people in the entire world
like me I don’t think they’re gonna find
a school for somebody like me but
despite that you know I grew up with my
peers through primary schools it was a
time of my life but as I progressed went
into middle and high school it was just
for lack of a better word hell people
who are supposed to be your friends
people who are supposed to be yours
spitting on you locking you in a locker
pushing you downstairs putting tags on
your wheelchair how many of us would
give up in any of those cases you know
but my mom my strength my rock she
taught me how to overcome how to ignore
those negativities and again as parents
you can’t teach us everything you just
give us the best tools that you feel
that you believe you can instill in us
and hope that we do the very best with
what you guys do for us after graduating
high school I went on to college and I
was unsuccessful in my first run of
college the same kind of people I was
going to high school with we’re the same
time for people I’m paying to get an
education and still getting made fun of
why should i at 20 years old 21 years
old get big fun of by someone that’s
supposed to be my peer somebody that’s
supposed to be my classmate you know
after after all that in life we go
through struggles and and I certainly
and without you know not without mine
and I I lost perspective I lost what my
mission should have been and I stumbled
I sell but I got back up and I returned
college and for the first time in my
academic career I made the Dean’s List I
was the first disabled student
government president in 177 years of my
university history
I served thank you I served as the
founding member of our political science
Honor Society I was the first person
that brought together the Latino
organization and the Black Student Union
and all the student unions because in
life Society puts these labels on us our
parents don’t say label us you know I’m
a mixed-race background so I don’t
consider myself a black man a white man
or a disabled man I consider myself a
man because why should we look at
somebody for the challenges or
differences that they have even though
with my education my experience and the
efforts I try to make you know the
resume I gave you that sounds awesome
you read that on paper that’s amazing
but then you roll up into the office for
the job oh I’m sorry
depositions full we don’t have that
opportunity anymore
oh the the application period close
these are just some of the
discriminations people with disabilities
face and that’s what turned me into an
advocate for people with disabilities it
started for me at age 16 I went to go
apply for at the local men’s clothing
store they said I couldn’t have the job
because I couldn’t climb the ladder like
that’s the only part of a job that that
you do what am i climbing ladders all
day
you know what is nobody coming in and
buying any clothes it’s ridiculous so I
took that experience and the way it made
me feel and I saw other people who
challenges may not have been as great
but we’re facing some of these same
discriminations
and it’s like what can we do how can we
help our friends and our neighbors my
friends and I use the term weird often
but my friends think I’m weird because
I’m most happiest when my friends and
neighbors are happiest because that’s
the way I was raised you know why should
someone have a brand-new job a brand-new
car and everything
why mr. Jones next door is struggling
why Miss Smith across the street can’t
even put food on her table you know we
lost a sense of community sometimes
between 92,000 and 2010 you know we need
to go back to helping each other as
independent as I am I’ve been a dad kids
I continue to say and I’ve got the
opportunity to go to Washington DC and
it was extremely humbling to travel the
same routes as Martin Luther King as
Abraham Lincoln and as my personal hero
John F Kennedy to travel with a thousand
people in wheelchairs and are having
other disabilities shutting down streets
going into the Housing Authority and
saying where’s our opportunity if you
think about it look at the houses in
your neighborhood you see there’s always
a stair to get in there’s always some
kind of step there’s always some kind of
barrier and that’s what I’ve been
fighting my entire life it’s like I’m a
mixed-race dude I don’t have arms you
know
I roll around real fast in a wheelchair
they think I’m gonna run everybody over
you know these are just challenges and
you got to take each and every moment
and figure out how are you going to
overcome that how are you going to knock
down that barrier so having rolled the
streets of Washington DC I’m also
blessed to say I’ve been handcuffed to
the fence of the White House and the
name of civil rights it was it was
February it was cold we were all wrapped
up in our blankets but again we have a
civil piece of civil rights legislation
can you believe that they had to pass a
piece of law so I could have same
opportunities you
what does why why am i different why
should we have that in the United States
of America
so after rolling down the streets of DC
and being handcuffed to the fence the
White House oh I also got thrown out of
my wheelchair by the DC police we had a
meeting with then speaker Pelosi who
decided that she was overwhelmed by a
thousand people with disabilities so her
and her Caravan took off I went to go
block it with my wheelchair and well the
police said move and I said you’re an
elected representative you represent the
people you’re supposed to hear our voice
apparently they didn’t like that so I
went up and I went down but I’m proud of
that I’m proud of that because that
brought attention to the needs of what
people want
the only thing disabilities want the
only thing that we want is a very same
opportunity as in each and every one of
you presently I’m a trainer I’m a
consultant I trained the bus drivers
here in Las Vegas and they always ask me
questions about belligerent PWDs people
with disabilities and I said I’m kicking
about the bus I did not spend 25 years
advocating for the same rights and
privileges as each one of you to not
face the same consequences and that’s
the problem today everybody wants to get
what they can get but they don’t want to
face with their repercussions what
they’ve earned
closing up here I went I went home last
month saw my mom after five years of
being away from home surprised her from
other day I told her her gift got sent
to my house I ended up showing up on her
porch so I was back at home and having
work so doggone hard myself and George
Janek were the only two obviously
disabled people in our community and we
worked we worked and we worked and the
system worked so hard against us that I
had to leave I had to move out of my
community because we lost our busses I
would ride my wheelchair two or three
miles in the rain and the snow because
it’s my responsibility as a man provide
for myself right click I don’t receive a
single penny in government assistance
whatsoever
I earn everything I have but but my
friend my friend nor Township Trustee
Franklin shared a story of having seen
me run for office and he talked about at
the mayor’s disability Commission and he
said I saw Raymond get out of his
wheelchair and climb up the stairs climb
up the stairs what are your barriers in
life what’s going to keep you from
overcoming them how are you going to
overcome those odds thank you ladies and gentlemen
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